Page 2 of Necessary Roughness
Knox
“You’re going out?” Logan asked from the couch.
“ We are going out,” I replied. “Get up. You’ve been on the couch all day.”
“Because this is the only time I get to relax before the semester starts and everything goes to shit,” Logan said. “On Saturday, I have to carry this team on my back to our first victory. Let me be a lazy piece of shit tonight.”
“Once the semester begins, we’re going to have approximately zero minutes per day of free time,” I said. “Two-a-day practices, class, study hall, team meetings…”
“All the more reason to be lazy now,” Logan said.
“All the more reason to go out and enjoy tonight!” I argued. “You know I had a rough summer. I just want to blow off a little steam while I can.”
That got Logan’s attention. “You tryin’ to smash tonight?”
“I’m just trying to have a good time. I’m not looking to hook-up.”
“I’m rapidly losing interest, then.”
“Come on. Don’t make me go alone.”
Roman, our other roommate, came lumbering out of his room like a tattoo-covered Bigfoot. “Take Roman with you!” Logan suggested.
Roman said nothing, but held up his middle finger in our direction while getting a beer out of the fridge.
“See?” Logan said. “He’s practically a party animal. He’ll be your wingman.”
“I don’t need a wingman,” I insisted. “I don’t want to hook up with someone. I just want to drink with my fellow students before the football season starts. Before all they care about is whether or not I won.”
Logan rested his head back on the couch and let out a long groan. “You’re so pathetic. Fine. I’ll come with you, but only for a beer. I don’t want coach on my ass if he finds out we went to a party.”
“Deal,” I said. “Give me five minutes to get ready.”
Logan leaped to his feet and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m ready now. Some of us don’t need to tease our hair and put makeup on before going out.”
“Wide receivers can get away with looking like slobs,” I countered. “But I’m the face of the team. I have to be somewhat presentable.”
“Slobbish?” Logan spread his arms and looked down at himself. “Baby, I look flawless without any work. Roman knows what I’m talking about.”
On the way back to his room, Roman flashed us his other middle finger.
I put on a fresh shirt and combed my hair, then Logan and I left our house.
That was one of the luxuries I loved the most about being an upper classman: sharing a house with my teammates rather than being stuck in a dorm.
It was a nice little neighborhood only a quarter-mile walk from campus, and less than half a mile from the football field.
We had the independence of living off-campus, but all the perks of being close.
We were also surrounded by sorority houses.
Tonight was the Thursday before classes began, and everyone was out partying it seemed. Music drifted from half a dozen sources as women in Greek-branded clothes hung off porches and danced on balconies. A few women shouted down at us as we passed.
“Sorry, ladies!” Logan said, turning around and walking backwards to respond to a cluster of Deltas. “Maybe on the way home. Save me a beer!”
I shook my head as he fell back in step with me. “You’ve never met a girl you didn’t want to smile at.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to smile at every woman you see? Smiling’s free, bro. And I’ve got a good one.” He pointed at his mouth with both hands and gave me a white, toothy grin.
“I guess you’ve already forgotten what you said last year.”
“What did I say last year?”
“That you weren’t going to get distracted by girls during the football season.”
“I do remember saying that,” he replied. “And that’s still my intention. No girls during the season.”
“So you’re making an exception already?”
“Not an exception,” he said, pointing at me emphatically. “Season begins on Saturday. Today is Thursday. After tonight, all bets are off.”
“If there’s anyone at Jamie’s party worth hooking up with,” I replied. “The last party we went to, pickings were slim.”
“You’re being glass-half-empty!” Logan put his arm around my shoulder. “You should be more positive. Glass-half-full. Wait. Ass -half-full. Heh.”
“You’re very clever.”
“The point is that it’s a new year, which means new women,” Logan insisted. “And just in case you’ve forgotten, we’re football stars! There are ten thousand new students on campus who are ready to throw themselves at us.”
“Not interested in the kind of women who only like us because we’re on the team,” I said.
“Ah hah!” Logan rounded on me. “So you are thinking about getting laid tonight.”
“I just want a relaxing beer with my fellow students.”
He clapped me on the back. “You’re such a bad liar. Mark my words: you’re going to pounce on the first girl who smiles at you.”
I ignored Logan as we passed another thumping sorority party. After four years at Westview College, I’d gotten sick of the kind of women who threw themselves at football players. Yes, it was fun for a while. Sure, I’d enjoyed the fringe benefits of being one of the most famous people on campus.
But now, entering my final year before I graduated, I wanted something more. Something real .
Once the season was over, though. In the spring.
Tonight, I just wanted to relax.
Jamie’s party was at the far end of our neighborhood, right on the edge of campus.
The bass thumped through the floorboards as we walked up the steps onto the front porch.
Even outside, the air was thick with sweat, cheap beer, and the kind of energy that could only come from college students who didn’t have any real responsibilities until classes began on Monday.
Unless you were a football player who had practice in the morning, and a game on Saturday.
I nodded at a few familiar faces as we weaved through the crowd by the door. Most of them looked like freshmen, based on their wide-eyed gazes and the way they tried too hard to fit in.
I breathed in the air and let out a sigh of happiness. I liked coming to parties because they made me feel a little more normal . Sometimes, for a few minutes, I could pretend that I was a regular student who could blend in with the crowd.
It was a nice contrast to stepping onto the football field and having eighty thousand fans cheering for me—or booing me.
Jamie, one of the jocks on the baseball team, spotted us as soon as we walked into the entrance hall. He shoved two plastic cups of beer at us, chatted for a couple of seconds, then disappeared deeper into the party.
“Just one beer?” Logan asked.
“Just one beer,” I confirmed. “That’s it.”
It was crowded here in the hallway, so I picked a direction and started walking. Logan and I immediately drew stares. A few people called out to us by name, even though they didn’t know us.
That was the problem with being a campus celebrity. Everyone knew of you, and mistook that for actually being your friend.
That was the main reason I had no interest in trying to hook up tonight: we attracted women who already had an idea of us before we had ever exchanged pleasantries, or women who were only attracted to what we represented.
I’d had enough relationships like that to learn my lesson.
There was only so much meaningless sex a guy could have before he wanted something more .
I chuckled to myself. If I could go back in time and tell a younger version of myself that I would get sick of meaningless sex, I would’ve called myself crazy.
“You’re right. This party sucks,” Logan said. “It’s definitely ass-half-empty.”
“You’re going to milk that phrase, aren’t you?”
“Damn right I am,” he replied, gazing around. “I really might have to stop at the Delta party on the way home.”
“You don’t want to go back to lying on the couch?”
“Hey, I’m already out,” Logan replied with a grin. “Might as well make the most of it.”
Suddenly, someone was tugging on my shirt sleeve. “Hey. You’re that guy, aren’t you?”
I groaned, preparing to launch into the same speech I gave whenever someone recognized me on campus.
But when I turned, the rest of the room dropped away.
She had tousled blonde hair that caught the light like it had been spun from gold, and eyes so bright they made the cheap party lights look dull.
Her smile wasn’t rehearsed—it hit me like a dare—and for a second, all I could do was stare, caught between the bass thumping in my chest and the sudden, sharp pull of wanting someone I’d never seen before.
“I… uh… hi,” I said. “I am that guy, yeah.”
“I knew it! Chemistry lab, spring semester. In the Ford building.” She grinned up at me. “I knew I recognized you.”
Logan threw his arm over my shoulder. “He’s a lot more than that. This man right here is—”
“I’m Knox,” I said, giving my friend a pointed look. “I think I remember you, too. You sat in the back left corner?”
“By the trash can,” she said with a groan. “That one guy always ate a tuna fish sandwich before class and threw the leftovers away. Worst semester of my life.”
“Ouch,” I said, grinning inwardly. Did this girl really only recognize me from freaking chemistry class? Was I just another student to her?
I exchanged a look with Logan. Holy shit. She had no idea.
For the first time since I could remember, my smile was genuine.